Then a river of sludge called coal ash starts gushing out of a facility owned by his employer of 28 years. Then a U.S. attorney starts issuing subpoenas. Then a cook with a ponytail gets mouthy and the Governor gets blamed for getting him fired – and for being thin-skinned.

Now, even some of McCrory’s fiercest critics say the cook deserved to be fired. After all, he wasn’t – as the Governor would say, “customer-friendly.” And McCrory’s allies note that the DENR subpoenas also cover Governor Perdue’s time in office. Unfortunately for McCrory, she’s no longer in office and in charge.

This all just shows how, despite all their efforts to control the agenda, politicians often find themselves controlled by events. How they respond is the difference between triumph and disaster.

The Governor could have shrugged off the cook. Or sensed trouble when DENR Secretary John Skvarla vowed to spend two or three hours answering questions about the coal ash spill.

Instead, Skvarla beat a hasty retreat after one hour, with reporters shouting questions at him as he walked off stage.

So the Governor might be adding one more item to his list: Keep Skvarla away from the cameras.

"Never let a crisis go to waste". Yep....Chicago politics has come to our fair state !

Teachers finally got a pay raise as well as other state employees after years of NOT getting a pay raise under democratic control of North Carolina because of "budget restraints". Pffftttt...nothing good in that, Y'all. Everyone didn't get a raise and everything the teachers wanted didn't happen so it means squat, y'know?

Big time coal ash spill into the Dan River and it's all the Guv's fault because, hey, he worked for them for a couple of decades don't ya know.

The governor went out to "meet and greet" with the people and got trashed by some dude ("with a pony tail"...is that important somehow, Gary?) probably with an agenda and got pissed and somehow this dude got fired. Well, we don't know if the guv actually GOT him fired and we don't know the WHOLE story, of course, but the guy got fired because the governor got pissed and it's all his fault and he's just a scuzz bucket because he's an egotistical bastard. I'm sure McCrory IS an egotist, of course, but who really KNOWS the whole story? Anyone....really?

This is "politics as usual". It's what our country's two political parties do to each other and our news media promotes it to the MAX.

There is NOTHING good that will come out of the coal ash spill including the stories about there now being excessive levels of arsenic in the water now. It's a disaster and it's a horrible incident. God knows how it will affect people down the road. One thing is for sure, it happened on McCrory's watch and he used to be employed there and just by association, he's going to be the scapegoat. It's just how it is.

Oh, and I'm betting the pony-tailed cook will get his job back....anyone disagree?

I agree with Gary here...."Stuff Happens". Personally, I think it's all "bull-stuff".